A recent study of the effects of peer involvement in bullying among elementary school children in Toronto reached the disturbing but not surprising conclusion that the behavior of children observing incidents of bullying tends to reinforce bullying. 1 The researchers' analysis of fifty-three videotaped incidents of bullying indicates that most the time, peer behavior contributed to the bullying, either actively, by cheering on the bully or modeling his aggressive behavior, or passively, by the inaction of those who stood by, "attending to the episode and not helping the victim." 2 On average, onlookers spent only twenty five percent of their time actively intervening in the incident on behalf of the victims of bullying. According to the companion questionnaire filled out by students at the school, "forty one percent of students indicated that they 'try to help' the victim when they observe bullying." 3 This study shows otherwise, marking a shift in focus of efforts to reduce bullying in the playground from a preoccupation with the psychological dimensions of the bully-victim dyad to a broader understanding of the immediate social context within which bullying takes place. Rather than viewing peer inaction as a peripheral matter in the problem of bullying, the researchers suggest that it plays a pivotal role in the dynamics of playground aggression and victimization. Effective intervention in bullying, the researchers suggest, is best achieved by raising peer awareness of the ways in which their unwillingness to intervene on behalf of the victim contributes to a climate of bullying.